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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23643811">Heir to the Hat</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RootBeerForTheVillain/pseuds/RootBeerForTheVillain'>RootBeerForTheVillain</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Villainous (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abuse, F/M, Flashback sex, Flashbacks, Heirs, Mythology - Freeform, Parent-Child Relationship, Revenge, Romance, Some funny shit, bad parent-child relationship, hey Black hat ain’t really the kind of loving husband and father type, just a good ol’ family reunion, some dark shit, whitchcraft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:15:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,148</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23643811</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RootBeerForTheVillain/pseuds/RootBeerForTheVillain</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Artemisia Grey was a weird kid. Not like normal kid weird, weird like her mom was a witch and she could set things on fire with her mind.<br/>Weird like her skin was a scaly gray color and her thick, black hair fell like tendrils over her narrow shoulders.<br/>Just weird.</p><p>But now, with her mother gone, she follows her final words to the source of the weirdness.</p><p>And he wears a hat.</p><p> </p><p>And he doesn’t know that she exists.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Black Hat (Villainous) &amp; Original Character(s), Black Hat (Villainous)/Original Character(s), Demencia &amp; original character, Dr. Flug (Villainous) &amp; Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>      Artemisia Grey was a weird kid. Not the kind of weird that people always claimed to be as a child. All kids are weird. They all have their strange habits and rituals, whether that be absolutely having to have corn with every meal, or playing dead when their parents were angry with them, or pretending to have an invisible friend, or digging up ant hills all day trying to find a lost civilization until the sun went down and they were covered dirt and tiny bite marks and wanted some corn for dinner.</p><p>       </p><p> Artemisia wasn’t like any of them, though. She was a truly strange child.</p><p>For example, before she could even walk or talk, she could lift incredibly heavy objects and throw them across the room like they were pebbles. </p><p>On her first day of preschool, her teachers were surprised that she could already read very well, and even more baffled that when she read aloud she spoke fluent Latin. </p><p>In second grade, she was banned from all future school field trips after she had unhinged her jaw and swallowed the live chicken that was supposed to be the zoo’s alligator’s lunch. She further sealed the deal after she had eaten the entire alligator as well. </p><p>In eighth grade, a teacher who had shouted at her for wearing a hat at school found herself being haunted by an ancient Hebrew demon after Artemisia had taped a paper to her back on which she had drawn a complex sigil in blood. Not her blood.</p><p>She was finally expelled in her first year of highschool after she bit a student’s ear off because he had made fun of her for her scaly gray skin and thick, black hair that came down in wild tendrils from under her black ski hat.</p><p>Just a really, really weird kid.</p><p> </p><p>         Many people blamed her bad behavior on her mother, who was somewhat of a recluse. This wasn’t an entirely unfair presumption, though, because her mother, Lilith Grey, was a witch.</p><p>Artemisia had grown up around goblins and elves and the occasional Geotic demon that tutored her in Spanish and math.</p><p>Her mother always had her nose stuck in their family’s grimoire as she had her elves help her with whatever spell or potion she was brewing up in the kitchen.</p><p>She also had a familiar who was an old, one-eyed raven named Grim which watched over Artemisia when her mother was unable to.</p><p>You see, Lilith had been sick ever since Artemisia was born. Although relatively young, she used a cane to walk, and she was very skinny. Yet her sunken eyes still sparkled when she looked at her daughter. Her sweet little monster.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>       <em>My sweet little monster</em>, Artemisia imagined her saying as she gazed out through the foggy airplane window.</p><p>She looked down into her gloved hand, in which she held a crumpled up business card her mother gave her right before she… </p><p>Well, it was no use thinking of that now, Artemisia kept telling herself. She was leaving that life far behind her as the plane flew miles and miles above the ocean towards a destination she didn’t entirely know.</p><p>On the card, there was the insignia of a black top hat with the words <strong>Black Hat Org.</strong> Printed underneath. She flipped the card over to read the address her mother had written on it.</p><p>
  <em>666 Hat St. Hatsville, Hat Island, ?</em>
</p><p>It had been very hard for her to find a plane heading to ?. </p><p> </p><p>    She sat up in her seat and looked around at her fellow passengers. Most of them looked like normal people with normal skin colors and a normal amount of eyes… but then there were others that looked… weird.</p><p>Like the woman sitting next to her. She was a shade of brilliant, neon yellow, and had a beak like a bird. She was wearing a mask and a short black and yellow dress with a black blazer and gloves.</p><p>The bird woman saw Artemisia staring at her and smiled. Artemisia quickly looked away, embarrassed.</p><p>“Hello there, young lady,” she said, bending over to better see Artemisia, who was avoiding eye contact.</p><p>“Is it your first time flying alone?” Artemisia nodded, not really wanting to talk at the moment.</p><p>The bird lady clearly didn’t get the clue. “Where are you headed, dear?” She said in a gentle voice.</p><p>Artemisia finally looked up. It was clear this woman was trying to strike up a conversation, and she had to join whether she wanted to or not.</p><p>“Um, I’m headed to a place called, uhh…” she looked down at the card again, still not completely understanding it.</p><p>“I’m headed to a place called Hat Island in… ?...?”</p><p>The woman lit up. “Oh! I’m going there too!” She said. “You must be so lucky to have parents that could send you! I’m sure you’ll love the place. Tell me, are you headed to that school there for promising young villains? I hear that place produces the greatest masterminds in the evil community. You're so lucky!”</p><p> </p><p><em>Yeah</em>, Artemisia thought. <em>Lucky</em>. </p><p>“Actually,” She said, “I’m supposed to meet someone there.”</p><p>“Oh, a family member?”</p><p>Artemisia shrunk back into her seat, not sure of what to say.</p><p>She shrugged.</p><p>“Well, I’m sure whoever it is, you’ll like them. It isn’t everywhere you get to meet someone similar to yourself.”</p><p><em>Similar to myself</em>, Artemisia thought. She didn’t entirely like the sound of that.</p><p> </p><p>The bird lady craned her neck to look out the window. “Ah! We must now just be heading to the Bermuda Triangle! Almost there!”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia’s eyes bugged open. The Bermuda Triangle??!!?? Where all the ships and planes are pulled down by some supernatural force and sink to the bottom of the ocean, never to be heard from again????!!</p><p>She stilled herself. Every reasonable person knows that the reason for more airplane crashes and sunken boats was simply because, as a highly trafficked area, accidents would be proportionally higher than other, less traveled areas.</p><p> </p><p>The whole thing about a supernatural force was just a load of…</p><p>Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest as the plane gave a great lurch and tilted sideways suddenly, only to quickly right itself again.</p><p> </p><p>The bird lady calmly buckled her seatbelt. “Better buckle up dear, we’ll be crashing very soon.”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia sighed in relief. “Finally” She said. “I thought we were gonna be stuck on this thing for…” the full sentence then registered.</p><p>“CRASHING?!” The plane started bumping and wavering up and down as alarms went off around her and the lights flickered out. The regular human passengers started to panic and shout “WHAT'S GOING ON?” “ARE WE GOING DOWN?” “I’ M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia was panicking as well, dead from a plane crash at the age of fifteen?! She hastily buckled her seatbelt, not really thinking that it would help in this situation, but was about all she could do right then.</p><p>She looked around at the other passengers, and noticed that the weird ones seemed perfectly calm, like this was a totally normal thing to happen on a flight to a place called Hat Island.</p><p> </p><p>The plane bumped and rocked some more, and then she felt herself being nearly lifted out of her seat, as she realized the plane had lost total control and was now plummeting down towards the water at increasing speed. And still, the weirdos looked unalarmed. </p><p> </p><p>She closed her eyes as she braced for impact, her whole life flashing through her mind. Thoughts of her mother raced, and she found herself tearing up at all their happy memories of times past. If she was going to die, she wanted her last thought to be of her mother holding her, smiling at her, before everything ceased to be.</p><p> </p><p>          The sound of splashing water awoke her. </p><p>Artemisia opened her eyes to see that she was on a boat, along with all the other weird passengers. </p><p>None of the humans were there.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia sat up astonished that she was still alive, and took in her surroundings.</p><p>The boat was being steered by a dark, hooded figure, slowly rowing it towards an island surrounded by a dark mist, and dark, heavy red clouds blanketed the sky above.</p><p>She squinted to get a better look at the island. It looked like a small city, it’s buildings lit ablaze by the reflection of the blood red clouds.</p><p>She could see some houses, other weird people, and… oh you have got to be kidding.</p><p>She had no doubt of where she was headed now.</p><p>In the center of the city, overlooking the island and seemingly producing the ominous red clouds that circled above it, was a giant building in the shape of a hat.</p><p>Artemisia had found Hat Island, ?.</p><p> </p><p>As the boat docked, it’s passengers unloaded one by one onto Hat Island.</p><p>As Artemisia stumbled out, almost losing her footing, she stabilized herself enough to look around at her new surroundings.</p><p>She looked up at the tall, menacing buildings, and the blood red sky. She moved aside to let other passengers through to this alien landscape.</p><p>The bird woman got off the boat, and smiled cheerfully at Artemisia.</p><p>“I hope you find whoever you’re looking for safely… though this island is a home, it is home to many villains that might not be as kind as I am…”</p><p>She gave a wary glance to the hat-shaped building.</p><p>With a nervous smile, she walked off into the foreboding city.</p><p> </p><p>Villains, huh? </p><p>She stepped off of the loading dock and into the streets of this villainous place.</p><p> </p><p>As she walked cautiously down the sidewalks lit by flickering street lamps, she looked for any sign that would point her to 666 Hat st. </p><p> </p><p>She looked around at the other pedestrians going about their day. Some were monsters, some were humanoids in costumes, all were villains. This was going to be weird.</p><p> </p><p>After a while of wandering down the streets of Hatsville, Artemisia finally found what she was looking for.</p><p>On an old street sign, she read the faded words: Hal S .</p><p>She looked down the winding, dilapidated road of Hat Street, and began to make her way alongside the abandoned houses lining the sidewalk. She looked for addresses where she could find them, as many of them had faded off.</p><p>64 , 642, 256, 66 , 664…</p><p> </p><p>At last she found it. 666 Hat Street. Of course it was 666 Hat Street. Why couldn’t 666 Hat Street be a normal looking house? No! Of course it was the giant hat shaped building that she had seen from the boat.</p><p> </p><p>It was even more menacing up close. A winding pathway ascended up a hill to a big black door. The big windows on the top floor were tinted blood red, and an airplane stuck out the side of it. How the hell did she miss that?</p><p>The wrought iron gate screeched as she opened it. She was surprised it wasn’t locked. Surely a building like this would have better security than-</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia fell backwards as a dozen different laser guns sprung out of the ground and had their crosshairs trained on her head.</p><p> </p><p>“YO WHAT THE FU-“ Artemisia screamed as she dove out of the way of the first laser beam. It hit a gnarled old tree behind her, which was now a little pile of dust on scorched earth. She ran from the onslaught of deadly lasers back down the hill, tripping and twisting her ankle as she rolled behind a rock to avoid them. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and it didn’t help when she realized she was hiding behind a tombstone of a guy named <em>Dr. A. Hopper PHD MD, 1976-2010. Died from acid to the face.</em></p><p>She nearly wet herself when the top of the tombstone was knocked off by a heavy metal arrow which nearly scalped her. After the lasers had stopped, hundreds of these arrows came flying at her from machine guns, and now having nowhere to hide she frantically dodged them while trying to make for the door. She barely noticed when one struck her arm, because now that she was halfway up the hill, there then came poison darts shooting out of the walls. One hit a very unfortunate bird in midair, and it hung there cartoonishly for a moment before all its feathers fell out and its skin melted off and the poor thing fell to the ground with a wet smack.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia was nearly sick to her stomach as she desperately dodged and zigzagged her way to the front door. She was nearly there, when-</p><p> </p><p>“AAHG!!” She screamed, as a bear trap chomped through her achilles and fell to the ground, her hand landing on a dusty door mat that said “<em>Welcome</em>”.</p><p>She looked up with tears in her eyes as she beheld the big monolithic doorway.</p><p>Panting, she bent over to pry open the jaws of the bear trap and got up. She immediately tripped and fell to the side, which happened to be very fortunate for her as next a block of spikes dropped with a heavy force onto the entryway.</p><p>She stared in horror as the spikes slowly retracted back up into the overhang.</p><p> </p><p>          Shaking, she got up and limped up towards the door, keeping a wary eye on the ceiling. As her witts returned to her, she looked down at the mess she was.</p><p>Clenching her jaw, she tugged the lead arrow from her arm. The hole which it had left in her body began to close up. She looked down at her heel as she felt her severed tendons repair themselves.</p><p>She had always been quick to heal.</p><p>There was nothing to do about her soiled clothes however, covered in mud and blood and torn and shred.</p><p>She straightened herself up as best she could, dusting herself off and gathering herself for what she was about to do.</p><p>With a shaky hand, she pressed the big red doorbell. </p><p>
  <em>Diiiing, doooong.</em>
</p><p>The door almost immediately opened up, but nobody was there. Confused, she looked down to see an adorable little robot dressed like a butler who was holding the door open for her.</p><p>“Oh, uh, thanks you… little butler guy…” </p><p>The robot tipped its little bowler hat as she crossed over the threshold, and closed the door behind her. She jumped as she heard the spikes drop again from behind the door.</p><p> </p><p>        Finally safe from that terrifying ordeal, she looked around the mansion hallway. It was ornately decorated with black and red and green and black and gold and black. She began making her way down the lonely hallway, unsure of what to do next. She turned back around to the robot at the door.</p><p>“Hey uh, mr. Robot butler?” The robot swiveled it’s head towards her. “Um, I’m supposed to meet someone here, can you show me to-“</p><p>“Hatbot?” She heard someone say from down the hall. “Is someone at the door?” </p><p>She turned back towards the hallway to see a man walking towards her.</p><p>Was this ...him?</p><p>No, she thought as he drew closer. He was too young.</p><p>“Um, hi,” She said, her day being so weird and exhausting she didn’t even question why he had a paper bag over his head.</p><p>“I’m supposed to meet someone here,” She said, and held up the crumpled old business card so he could see.</p><p>He looked at it, and then back at her with a scrutinizing gaze.</p><p>“There aren’t any one-on-one appointments today, and he doesn’t take drop-ins. If” you would like to make an appointment, you should-“</p><p> </p><p>Then there came a cackling from above. Artemisia looked to the ceiling and was snatched up by some sort of animal. Dear gods, would this day ever end?</p><p> </p><p>“DEMENCIA!” The man shouted from below.</p><p> </p><p>“What?” This demencia creature asked. “If she doesn’t have an appointment can’t I have her? I haven’t eaten anyone since breakfast!”</p><p>The words ‘eaten anyone’ registered in Artemisia’s head, and she began to struggle.</p><p>“HEY! I DON’T WANNA BE EATEN TODAY! I JUST GOTTA SEE HIM!”</p><p> </p><p>Demencia finally looked down at her. Instead of the face of a snarling monster like she was expecting, Demencia appeared to be a young woman.</p><p>“See him?” She asked, almost sarcastically. “What’d ya gotta see him for, runt?” She cackled.</p><p> </p><p>“I, I need to tell him… that… tell him some really important news.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oooooh! Important news! He likes that kinda stuff!”</p><p>She looked back down at the man in the paper bag.</p><p>“FLUG!” She shouted. “THIS KID SAYS SHE’S GOT IMPORTANT NEWS! SO I’M GONNA TAKE HER TO HIM, AND IF HE DOESN’T LIKE HER, I GET TO EAT HER, SOUND GOOD?”</p><p> </p><p>“DEMENCIA, NO, WAIT!”</p><p> </p><p>It was too late. Artemisia found herself being stuffed into some kind of thick, itchy green bag, and felt like she was on the back of a wild horse, and struggled to understand which way was up and which was down, as the evidently mutated woman crawled and jumped and climbed her way through the mansion.</p><p>Finally, the woman dropped onto the floor, and Artemisia almost threw up.</p><p> </p><p>“<em>Blackyyyyy</em>” she cooed.</p><p>Something growled on the other side of the room.</p><p>“I found something for you! It was just hangin out in the front hallway, just waiting to meet you!”</p><p>Artemisia felt her leg being grabbed, and the woman pulled her out from behind her, dangling her upside down. It was then she came to the disgusting realization that she had been entangled in this woman’s thick, green ponytail the whole time they were running through the mansion.</p><p> </p><p>“<em><b>Demencia</b></em>.”</p><p> </p><p>Her blood ran cold. She squinted to look at the upside down office, and saw a man sitting at a large desk, his face hidden behind a newspaper.</p><p> </p><p>“<b><em>How many times have I told you to leave me alone while I’m WORKING?!”</em></b></p><p> </p><p>The office door opened, and a panting “Flug” stumbled inside.</p><p>“S-Sir! Demencia! She’s, hah, she’s coming, gah, with, I told her not to-“</p><p> </p><p>The man finally banged his fists down on his desk with a force that shook the whole room and stood up, finally revealing his scowling, dark gray face.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone shrunk back.</p><p> </p><p>Demencia spoke up, sounding much less confident than when she had entered.</p><p>“I, um, I just thought that maybe you’d like to see what I…”</p><p> </p><p>“See WHAT? What has you two SO worked up that you BREAK INTO my office, babbling about whoever KNOWS what, and interrupting my IMPORTANT WORK!</p><p> </p><p>Demencia shriveled. “Um… this?” And she flung Artemisia across the room onto the cold floor.</p><p> </p><p>She looked up to see a pair of  polished, expensive looking black and white shoes. Her gaze traveled upward along two long legs in black trousers, and up towards a grey silk vest over a bright red, collared shirt and a black silk tie, and finally…</p><p> </p><p>She jumped up and fell backwards to the floor.</p><p> </p><p>He looked down at her with an expression like he was wondering why he shouldn’t just crush this insect beneath his foot.</p><p> </p><p>“And what exactly is it that I’m looking at?” He inquired, not taking his eyes off of Artemisia.</p><p> </p><p>Flug spoke up. “Sir! She said that she had important news for you, and, I told her to make an appointment, but then Demencia-“</p><p> </p><p>“Shut up.”</p><p> </p><p>Flug gulped.</p><p>“I’ll deal with this myself. You two, out! Now!”</p><p> </p><p>Flug scrambled out the door, and Demencia skipped out, giving the man a flirtatious wave goodbye before the giant doors loudly shut behind them.</p><p> </p><p>The man looked with cold eyes  Artemisia, and then snapped his fingers.</p><p>“Up.”</p><p>And Artemisia immediately sprung to her feet. She didn’t do that by herself.</p><p>Before she could say anything, the fancily dressed man adjusted his top hat and growled,</p><p>“<b><em>Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t decorate my office with your intestines</em></b>.”</p><p>Artemisia gulped.</p><p>Yeah, this was the guy her mother told her about alright. It was him.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia stood up straight. Maybe she should start with a joke “Well,” She said. “For one thing, I don’t think it’ll match the color scheme of the room! I mean, pink on red? What kind of interior designer would do that?”</p><p>She grinned at him, waiting for a reaction.</p><p>He stood for a minute, and then walked back behind his desk and sat down.</p><p>“Wrong answer.”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia’s arms snapped to her sides, and she found herself unable to move. Okay, guess he didn’t like jokes.</p><p> </p><p>“Uh, wait WAIT! Whatever you’re going to do to me I actually came to say…”</p><p>“Too late.”</p><p>As he looked back down at his paper, she felt as if someone was squeezing her. She couldn’t breathe. It felt like one of her ribs had cracked.</p><p>“<em>hey</em>” She wheezed. He ignored her.</p><p> </p><p>“<b><em>HEY</em></b>!”</p><p> </p><p>She shouted, and broke free of the invisible crushing force.</p><p> </p><p>The man was caught off guard when his newspaper burst into flames in his hands and soot fell down onto his desk. The windows behind him shattered, and he looked back up at Artemisia, astonished.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>“I SAID THAT I GOT SOMETHING TO SAY!”</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>Her booming voice shook the room. The man was frozen in place in confusion and disbelief as she jumped up onto his desk to look down at him, her hair whipping wildly around her and her fists clenched and smoldering like hot coals.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>“Black Hat”</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Black Hat’s face was frozen in shock as he raised one long, thin eyebrow.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia settled back to her normal self, now that she finally had his attention.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>“I’m your Daughter.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Who’s the Father?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>      The door to Flug’s lab slammed open as a livid Black Hat stormed in. Artemisia was forcefully thrown to the floor at Flug’s feet. She was really getting tired of that.</p>
</blockquote><p> </p><p>“<strong>FLUG</strong>” Black hat roared.</p><p> </p><p>Flug jumped in his seat and spilled an experimental chemical all over his desk. The desk caught on fire and the frantic scientist rushed to the fire extinguisher at the other side of the room as the fire spread, burning all of his research papers and melting an expensive looking model plane he had been working on.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia stood up and turned towards her father.</p><p> </p><p>Her father, Black Hat, was tall and had long arms and legs. He was dressed in a three piece suit with an overcoat, the formal attire completed with his tall black top hat.</p><p>His face was a dark gray, darker than Artemisia’s, and had long thin eyebrows that resembled her own freakishly long ones that she had been so harshly teased about by her peers. One eye was covered by a glass monocle that shined in the fluorescent light of the laboratory.</p><p> </p><p>Flug rushed back to his desk with the extinguisher and sprayed the now roaring blaze with white foam, until the last ember was put out.</p><p> </p><p>Sweating, he dropped the heavy extinguisher and turned to face his boss.</p><p>“Y-y-Yes, S-Sir?” He stammered.</p><p> </p><p>Black Hat shoved a finger towards Artemisia’s face.</p><p>“This imp claims to be my… that I am… that I am it’s father.” He uttered the last word in disgust as his eyes pierced Artemisia like ice picks.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, if…” Flug’s eyes bugged out of their goggles and he shook his head when the sentence fully registered in his brain.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re her WHAT?!” His hand flew to his mouth as he realized he had just shouted at his boss.</p><p> </p><p>He lowered his finger and turned his attention towards Flug.</p><p> </p><p>“I am NOT.” He roared. “And I want you to prove it before disposing of it.”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia stood defiantly in front of Black Hat and squared her shoulders before speaking.</p><p>“You are my father,” She said. “My name is Artemisia Grey, and my mother is Lilith Grey, and she is a witch. I am fifteen years old, and you are fifteen years behind on some pretty substantial birthday checks.”</p><p> </p><p>Black Hat sneered at the girl's ignorance.</p><p>“Ha!” He spoke. “You little lying fool. Lilith Grey died sixteen years ago. She killed herself! I saw her cold, lifeless body with my own eyes after she swallowed a bottle of arsenic. You couldn’t possibly-“</p><p>He paused. </p><p>Sixteen years.</p><p>He shook his head.</p><p>No.</p><p>No, of course not.</p><p>It was impossible!</p><p>She couldn’t-</p><p>He would have known if-</p><p>Black Hat’s dark gray skin paled.</p><p> </p><p>    Flug took a closer look at Artemisia than he had a chance to before she was snatched away by Demencia.</p><p>Besides her human nose and ears, her long kinky hair and bright green eyes, one of which was hidden behind a fringe of her dark hair, she could be the spitting image of his boss. Her arms and legs were long, and she was tall for her age. She also wore a black hat, though it was a black ski hat and not his boss's iconic top hat.</p><p>The gears in his scientific mind started turning. Could Black Hat have a child? Could this human woman, “Lilith,” even be able to survive if he had?</p><p>He looked back and forth between the girl and his boss. It would take a blind man not to notice the similarities in looks and demeanor. They both stood tall and fearless, and both had eyes that seemed to be able to kill if you looked directly at them.</p><p>Well at least, Artemisia did, for at that moment he saw his boss in a state which he never had before.</p><p>Black had held his chin with a shaky hand, and his gaze was directed towards the floor.</p><p>In his eyes, he saw bafflement, confusion and… impossibly… something that seemed almost like fear.</p><p> </p><p>“No” he heard his boss finally say.</p><p>“Sir?”</p><p>“No no no nO NO NO <b>NO</b>!”</p><p> </p><p>He whipped around to face Flug.</p><p> </p><p>“FLUG!”</p><p>He gulped.</p><p>“SEE TO IT TO PROVE THIS URCHIN IS NOT MY OFFSPRING, AND THAT IT IS A LYING LITTLE BITCH NOT EVEN WORTH A MOMENT OF MY TIME AND ATTENTION, MUCH LESS MY MONEY!”</p><p> </p><p>He turned on his heel and stormed towards the laboratory door.</p><p>“And don’t disturb me until you are through. … I have something I need to make sure of.”</p><p>And with that, the metal door swung closed behind him loudly, and he stomped off into the enormous mansion with a mission.</p><p>Impossible… </p><p>
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</p><p>After he was sure his boss’s footsteps were gone he turned to face Artemisia who was gazing at the door. </p><p> </p><p>He cleared his throat.</p><p>“Ahem. So, um, you said your name was…?”</p><p>She whipped around to face him, her eyes full of malice.</p><p>“Artemisia,” She grumbled.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, right, and your mother… she is a human, yes?</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia crossed her arms and looked towards the floor, her hair covering her eyes.</p><p> </p><p>“<em>Was</em>.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, I am so sorry for your loss,” Flug said casually as he rolled up a chair for </p><p>Artemisia to sit.</p><p> </p><p>“Please have a seat,” he said, gesturing.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia reluctantly sat down.</p><p> </p><p>Flug turned towards his smoldering desk, searching through drawers of scientific materials. Artemisia crossed her arms.</p><p> </p><p>Finally finding what he was looking for, he stood up.</p><p> </p><p>“Open your mouth,” he said to Artemisia.</p><p>“Why?” She said.</p><p>Flug placed a glass test tube on his desk, and held a long cotton swab in one hand.</p><p>“I am going to conduct a paternity test, and I need a DNA sample from your cheek.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia sighed and opened her mouth, sticking out her tongue. “Aaahh” She said.</p><p>Flug inserted the cotton swab into her mouth, and rubbed it around the inside of her cheek for about twenty seconds.</p><p> </p><p>“Now, with the skin cells I have collected from your mouth, I will be able to extract the DNA from the cells to determine your… Oh.”</p><p> </p><p>The cotton swab in his hand began to melt from Artemisia’s acidic saliva.</p><p> </p><p>The scientist flung it into a wastebasket. It was useless to him now that her spit had destroyed the skin cells he had hoped to test.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, there are other ways to do this thing,” he said, and he picked up a pair of scissors. He walked toward Artemisia, and picked out a strand of hair.</p><p>Artemisia slapped his hand away and hissed at him, sticking out a forked tongue.</p><p> </p><p>Flug held his hands back. “Don’t worry, I just need a little snip of your hair since our other sample was… contaminated.”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia reluctantly allowed him to touch her hair, just long enough for him to get what he was looking for. She hated it when people would touch her hair. She hardly ever even let her own mother touch it. She hated it.</p><p> </p><p>Flug struggled with the scissors. Her hair was much more tough than he had anticipated. He squeezed the scissors harder and harder until they finally snapped around her wiry tendrils.</p><p>Artemisia grew increasingly agitated as the scientist then turned to another pair of bigger scissors, gardening shears, and finally bolt cutters. All that left him was broken metal and an incredibly sore hand.</p><p> </p><p>“Okayyyyy,” He said, realizing that this might be a harder task than initially foreseen.</p><p>“I’ll just take a clipping of one of your fingernails. Would you remove your gloves?”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia looked down at her hand. It was clothed in a knit wool glove that her mother had made her. She didn’t like to look at her hands.</p><p> </p><p>Flug waited awkwardly for her to slowly remove them. This time, he went straight for the bolt cutters.</p><p> </p><p>“Now then, let me see.”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia held out a hand, and flexed her fingers so that her three-inch long razor sharp fingernails sprung out.</p><p> </p><p>Flug gulped.</p><p>Again, he had trouble getting a sample of it as he struggled more just to get a chip off.</p><p> </p><p>About a half hour later her hand was on his desk as he used a bone saw to finally get a clip off of her iron nails.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay,” He said, sweating heavily. “Now I can use the cells from this sample to extract your DNA and see if you are really… telling the truth.”</p><p>He dropped the clipping into a plastic bag, and walked toward a locked safe.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia took back her hand and retracted her claws.</p><p>“How long is that gonna take?” She asked, slipping the glove back on.</p><p> </p><p>“Well,” He said, punching in the code to the safe. “First I’ll have to break open the cells to get to the DNA, separate it from proteins and lipids, and then unravel it to match half of it against Black Hat’s… um…”</p><p>He paused, struggling to find the words to describe the dark matter writhing around in little test tubes inside the safe.</p><p>He had been experimenting with samples taken from used drinking cups and from scratch marks made by his boss during disagreements for a while now.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s gonna take a while,” He finally answered.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia huffed and sat back in her chair.</p><p>“<em>Great</em>.”</p><p>
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</p><p>Black Stormed through the halls, his coat billowing behind him as he hurried towards his destination, pushing away the ludicrous thoughts that raced through his head as he swung a door open to an enormous room filled with jewelry, statues, and bones.</p><p> </p><p>Most people would not describe Black Hat as sentimental, but most people had only seen the evil, tyrannical monster of unspeakable power, that crushed nations at his will and tormented the dreams of any to hear his name.</p><p>There were a select few, however, that saw another side to him. He was still extremely evil, of course, but there was more of him to see than that violent nightmare creature.</p><p>Being immortal, Black Hat always collected momentos of partners past.</p><p>Some were necklaces, some were skulls, and some were ashes he kept in sealed urns displayed upon the many shelves of the room.</p><p> </p><p>He rushed over to his shelves, his eyes frantically searching for her.</p><p> </p><p>At last, his eyes fell upon a simple but beautiful urn, porcelain with flowers delicately painted over it, and sealed with gold.</p><p>“<em>Lilith</em>” was written daintily upon a small plaque.</p><p> </p><p>He snached the slim urn off the shelf, and examined it.</p><p>It was sealed tightly shut, and showed no evidence of tampering.</p><p> </p><p>There was no way… sixteen years…</p><p> </p><p>He had to know for certain.</p><p> </p><p>Taking one last look at the delicate urn, he rose it above his head and smashed it on the floor, scattering the ashes everywhere.</p><p> </p><p>Wait, no… not ashes…</p><p> </p><p>Black had stepped towards the mess in bewilderment.</p><p>Scattered everywhere were necklaces, earrings, bracelets and precious gems. He recognized them all, as he had been the one to buy the customized jewelry for his late wife.</p><p> </p><p>“No!” He exclaimed. “I saw her burn! I watched the pyre until the very last ember went out! She couldn’t possibly have…”</p><p> </p><p>He noticed a necklace which he did not recognize. He snatched it off the floor and examined it.</p><p>It was an amulet of obsidian, the seal of protection by the seven archangels engraved in it.</p><p> </p><p>Enraged, he threw it to the floor.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>That witch.</b>
</p><p><b>She tricked him</b>.</p><p> </p><p>He stomped on it, and the protective amulet shattered. He fell to his knees.</p><p> </p><p>“God DAMMIT!” He shouted, his voice echoed around the room and shook his precious keepsakes to the floor, where they, too, were broken.</p><p> </p><p>His head full of fury and shock at what that woman had done to him, he noticed a piece of the urn he had smashed had something written in it.</p><p> </p><p>He snatched it from the rubble and read it.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Dear Black Hat, </em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>By the time you read this, you will have realized that you have been fooled. I am sorry for this. But I must escape you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>If all goes according to plan, you will read this upon the arrival of my gift to you. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Our child. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>It also means that I, for real this time, am dead.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I suppose you would like me to apologize for that, too, but I will not apologize for bringing a beautiful young monster into the world.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Now that I am gone, you shall fulfill your role as a father, and care for them as your own, for better or for worse.</em>
</p><p>
  <em><b>Or else</b>.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Goodbye, my darling darkness. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>XOXO, Lilith.</em>
</p><p>
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</p><p>The shard dropped to the floor.</p><p>Black Hat was stunned.</p><p>She had brought their offspring into the world- his world- without him suspecting a thing.</p><p>Their offspring, who combined the god-like powers of his and the devilish mind of hers, was now alive and grown, and she was strong.</p><p>God damn that woman.</p><p>She had destroyed him.</p><p>
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</p><p>“So are you almost done?” Artemisia asked impatiently, slumped over in her chair.</p><p> </p><p>“J-j-just a minute!” Flug shouted, gazing through the glass lense of a powerful microscope.</p><p>The sample of DNA he had collected from Artemisia’s finger nail was split into two strands. </p><p>One half was from her mother. It looked pretty normal for a human, with the typical various patterns of adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine.</p><p> </p><p>Her father’s half on the other hand…</p><p> </p><p>It was immediately apparent that her father wasn’t human at all. His strand was stranger than anything he had ever seen.</p><p>Well, almost anything he had ever seen.</p><p>For the paternal strand perfectly matched up with the stringy, spiky goo he had collected from his boss.</p><p> </p><p>He slumped into the back of his chair with an exasperated groan.</p><p>She was really telling the truth.</p><p>She really was…</p><p>Black Hat’s daughter.</p><p> </p><p>He turned in his chair to face where she had been sitting. She wasn’t there.</p><p>He jumped to his feet and frantically searched the lab for her.</p><p>He found her with her face stuffed into a cage where he kept lab rats.</p><p> </p><p>She turned back around to look at him. Blood dribbled down her chin, and a thin pink tail hung out the side of her mouth.</p><p> </p><p>“Sorry,” She said, slurping up the tail like spaghetti and swallowing the poor rat whole.</p><p> </p><p>“I haven’t eaten since the plane ride here.” She wiped the blood on her chin off with the sleeve from her black and red striped turtleneck.</p><p> </p><p>Flug held his head in his hands.</p><p>“Oh God, what am I going to tell him?”</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry,” said Artemisia. “I’m sure you can just get another lab rat…”</p><p> </p><p>“NO! About him having an heir!”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, wouldn’t he be happy? To have someone like me to take over his vast evil empire someday when he’s gone?”</p><p> </p><p>“No no no no NO” he grabbed Artemisia by the shoulders and looked her in the eye.</p><p>“People like… beings like him… they don’t want to have children. They view them as a threat to their power! There are countless stories and legends of past rulers and gods slaying their infants so that they won’t have a chance to grow up and overthrow them!”</p><p>He let her go and sighed. “But you…”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia piped in. “I’m not an infant he can just smother in the crib. I’m almost full grown, and he views me as a real threat. But that won’t stop him from trying to destroy me.”</p><p> </p><p>Flug sat back down. “Exactly,” He said.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia grinned. “Neat!”</p><p>
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</p><p>Black Hat sat at his desk, his head in his hands, contemplating.</p><p>He heard a timid knock at his door.</p><p>He grunted permission to come in.</p><p> </p><p>Flug stepped timidly through the doorway, and gently closed the door behind him.</p><p>“B-boss?”</p><p>Black Hat grunted again.</p><p>Flug gulped. “The paternity test results are in, and, well…” </p><p>He slipped the DNA chart onto his boss’s desk, his head turned away.</p><p> </p><p>Black Hat peeked out from under his hand to look at the barcode-like chart of black lines.</p><p> </p><p>“S-so, this is you,” Flug pointed to one string of barcode. “And this,” Flug pointed to the other string. “And this… this is her’s.”</p><p> </p><p>As he gazed down at the paper. Flug might as well just have just folded the paper in half, as the blatant symmetry of the strands mirrored each other exactly.</p><p> </p><p>Black Hat groaned.</p><p> </p><p>“Would you, would you like to see her?” Flug asked, fearing for his life, as Black Hat had a habit of shooting the messenger.</p><p> </p><p>Black Hat was silent for a moment, and then raised his head.</p><p> </p><p>“No.” He said. “Just find somewhere to keep her for tonight, and I’ll deal with it in the morning.”</p><p> </p><p>Flug sighed in relief as he realized his beating heart would stay firmly in his chest that day.</p><p> </p><p>“Would you like me to find a room for her?”</p><p> </p><p>Black Hat waved his hand. “Fine, fine, just keep her out of my sight.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes sir!” Flug said, and he made for the door as quickly as he could.</p><p>When Flug was gone, Black Hat lowered his head to his desk once more.</p><p>
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</p><p>Flug opened the lab door. “Good news!” He said.</p><p>Artemisia fell out of her chair. She had been looking at the ceiling and spinning her chair around in Flug’s absence.</p><p>The room still spinning, she stumbled back onto her feet to try and locate one of Flug’s faces.</p><p>“He uh, he’s not gonna try to kill me today?” She steadied herself as the room stopped spinning.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes,” said Flug. “Not today, at least. He told me to find you a room to stay the night.” Flug gestured towards the door, leading her out into the hallway.</p><p> </p><p>The mansion had many guest bedrooms, most of which had never been used. They were more for appearances than anything, a status symbol of Black Hat’s immense wealth.</p><p>They were sometimes used to temporarily house high profile clients in case a service took longer than expected.</p><p>They were all lavishly decorated, gold decor and fancy wallpapers made the room, and luxurious king sized beds and giant wardrobes were in each and every one of them, suitable for royalty.</p><p> </p><p>They walked down the vast but empty hallway, and Flug stopped in front of one of the rooms. “You can stay here for tonight.”</p><p>He opened the giant oak door to let her into the Victorian style room with a huge bed with blood red bed sheets.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia walked into the massive guest bedroom by herself, and Flug closed the door behind her.</p><p> </p><p>Finally alone, she flung herself face first onto the bed, sinking into the soft mattress.</p><p> </p><p>Sweet Moses, what a day it had been.</p><p>She had survived a plane crash, nearly annihilated by the mansions security system, kidnapped by a human-lizard hybrid, and met her father who immediately tried to kill her.</p><p> </p><p>She flipped onto her back to look up at the canopy. Her eyes traveled downward towards her body, and saw her clothes torn and shred and covered in dirt and rat blood.</p><p> </p><p>She stretched out on the mattress, and jumped back onto the floor. She needed a shower.</p><p>
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</p><p>She turned on the water in the private bathroom, and began to strip. The tattoos of runes and talismans on her back reflected in the mirror. Protections against the Evil Eye.</p><p>As the water turned warm, she stepped into the claw-footed bathtub and faced the shower head. She closed her eyes as she let the hot water soak her entire body. Blood and dirt ran down her legs and into the drain.</p><p>She ran her hands through her thick hair, and grabbed some complementary shampoo and conditioner sitting on a shelf. It was always a big task to wash her hair.</p><p> </p><p>After she was all clean and fresh, she stepped out of the shower and wrapped her body in a soft red towel.</p><p>She walked out into the room towards the giant wardrobe, hoping to find something clean to sleep in.</p><p>When she opened the big oak doors, the stench of mothballs hit her like a brick. She stepped back and gagged at the smell.</p><p>When the tears cleared from her eyes, she began searching for some sort of pajamas. Most of the old clothes were men’s sizes, much too big for her.</p><p>She managed to find an old, dusty Victorian nightgown.</p><p> </p><p>She walked over to a large window and opened it to beat the dust out of the old dress.</p><p>It was then that she heard a low, creaky voice.</p><p> </p><p>“I see you found your way here safely, Artemisia.”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia looked up to a gnarly tree branch by the window, and grinned as she saw a familiar face.</p><p>Or, rather, familiar beak.</p><p> </p><p>“Grim!” She exclaimed, and the old one eyed raven fluttered down onto the window sill.</p><p> </p><p>“How did you find me?” She asked the bird in amazement.</p><p> </p><p>“A good familiar will always be able to find his master, whether it be past dark, stormy seas or a big hat on a hill.” He winked his one blue eye.</p><p> </p><p>“So,” He said in his creaky crow voice as he flew through the window into the room, perching on top of the canopy. “How has meeting your father been?”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia sat down on the bed below him. “Well, he called me a lying bitch and tried to kill me, so I’d say not too great.”</p><p> </p><p>Grim shook his head. “Well, He is an ancient and powerful Eldritch being from a place worse than Hell, and you are his quickly growing and powerful offspring that threatens his existence. So, you know, typical fatherly behavior for someone in his shoes.” He chuckled.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia replied. “Ya know, I’m getting really tired of being called ‘offspring’.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, what would you prefer? Abomination? Heiress? The fruit of his l-“</p><p> </p><p>“I think I’d rather just be called ‘Artemisia’ for now.”</p><p> </p><p>She stood up. “Hey, uh I need to get dressed now, so could you…?” </p><p> </p><p>Grim bowed and turned away to let her take off her towel and slip into the nightdress.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay,” She said, “you can look now.”</p><p> </p><p>Grim turned back around. “So, you are staying the night it appears?”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia sighed and lay back down on the bed.</p><p> </p><p>“Doesn’t seem to be anywhere else to go, is there?”</p><p> </p><p>Grim shook his feathered head. “Well, I’ll leave you alone now, but if you ever need me, just call my name.” He drew his wings and swooped back towards the window sill.</p><p> </p><p>“Grim, wait!” Artemisia cried.</p><p> </p><p>The bird landed at the window and turned to face her. “Yes? What is it”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia twiddled her thumbs.</p><p>“Could you maybe, stay the night? Just this once?” She asked quietly.</p><p> </p><p>Grim nodded sympathetically and flew back to his perch above the canopy.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll be right here, Artemisia,” he said softly. “Now go to sleep. You’ll need to have strength tomorrow.”</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia nodded and yawned. She stuffed herself under her bedsheets and curled up.</p><p>“G’night, Grim,” she mumbled sleepily.</p><p> </p><p>“Good night, Artemisia,” Grim replied.</p><p>
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</p><p>Grim watched his master’s daughter fall into a deep sleep. When her eyes were shut tight and her breathing was slowed and steady, he looked toward the old oak door. Puffing up his feathers, he prepared himself for anything that might seek to harm his sleeping companion.</p><p>
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</p><p>On the other side of the mansion, something schemed and plotted.</p><p>The girl would not live for much longer.</p><p>       </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey y’all!<br/>I’m probably not going to be posting another chapter within the next week or two, because I have an important paper to write for art history.<br/>Actually, it’s because of this research assignment that partially inspired Artemisia’s name.<br/>I suggest you go look at some of the baroque paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi. She was a badass.</p><p>✌️ Peace</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>          The mansion at night was cold and dark. Well, it wasn’t very dissimilar to all other times of the day in that house. Shadows seemed to pop up and disappear around every corner, and paintings on the walls never seemed to stay in one place.</p><p>It was the kind of place you’d expect to be incredibly haunted, but every ghost, ghoul, demon and poltergeist knew to avoid it at all costs. For only one being stalked the halls and haunted corners, thumped and bumped in the night, stretched shadows across the wall and crept into your nightmares in that house.</p><p>And tonight, he had something to take care of.</p><p>
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</p><p>Meanwhile, Artemisia dreamed.</p><p>
  <em>She was back at home, lying in her own bed, the sun shining through the morning glories that crept across her window. The dappled beams lit her room, casting its light upon her bookshelves and burnt-out candles and bunches of clothes in varying degrees of cleanliness partially covering the magic circle in the center of the room.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She got out of bed, and saw that she was wearing a strange nightgown she had never seen before. She didn’t usually wear nightgowns.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>She turned over in her bed. Something was approaching the door.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>She went downstairs to see her mother sitting on the couch reading a book. Her skin was much brighter today. She walked over to see the book she was reading, but couldn’t quite make out the title. Something about vampires? Or maybe socks?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Good morning, mom” she said, but her mother stared blankly down at the blurry page.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Artemisia sniffed the air.</em>
</p><p><em>She could smell pancakes and sizzling bacon coming from the kitchen. She walked into the kitchen to see the elves cooking breakfast for them. Something about them was strange, though. She saw some she didn’t recog</em>nize, <em>and some she swore had been cloned from another. She squinted. Instead of their usual little pointed caps, they seemed to be wearing little black top hats.</em></p><p> </p><p>Artemisia sighed deeply. Something else was in the room with her.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>She made her way to the dining room table, which the elves were setting up for breakfast. Her mother sat at one end of the table. Artemisia didn’t hear her get up from the couch.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The elves set down a delicious looking plate of bacon and pancakes smothered in maple syrup. Before she ate, she went over to the fridge and the pantry, and set out bowls of honey and milk for the elves, who scurried towards their payment in a frenzy.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She sat down at the table, and spoke to her mother while she cut up her pancakes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“So, mom, what are my lessons for today?” She said and stuffed a drizzling piece of pancake into her mouth. Her mother said nothing, and just smiled at her. Artemisia noticed that instead of pancakes and bacon, the elves had brought her a bottle of a potion or something.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>As she continued to eat, she realized how much the food tasted like linen.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>A shadow fell over Artemisia’s sleeping body, it’s owner disgusted at the way she was nibbling at her bedsheets.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Her mother still said nothing. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Artemisia said nothing back.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The both sat across from one another at the table, looking at each other, and not making a sound.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Artemisia felt something hot on her face. She wiped it off with her hand. Tears? Why would she be crying?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She looked back up at her mother, who uncorked the bottle.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Something in Artemisia’s head said “poison.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She leapt up.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Mom! Don’t drink that, it's…”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her mother emptied the bottle down her throat. She dropped the bottle to the floor and closed her eyes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“M-mom?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her eyes remained closed for a while. Then she opened them, and smiled sweetly at Artemisia. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her skin was back to its sickly pale color.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Black Hat drew a long finger as sharp as a dagger, and held it against his sleeping daughter’s throat.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>She reached for her daughter’s hand. Artemisia took it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Then her mother finally spoke. “I think it’s time for you to wake up now.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia’s eyes snapped open.</p><p> </p><p>Instead of her mother’s frail hand, she was grappling with a giant, dark hand with claws like knives that reached for her throat.</p><p> </p><p>With her other hand, she unleashed her own sharp claws and slashed blindly at her attacker.</p><p>She hit something, and a hot liquid spattered onto her face as she heard an animalistic growl. Her attacker swung at her again, and Artemisia rolled out of the way and dropped to the floor.</p><p> </p><p>She stood up as quickly as she could, and heard a cawing noise, and sounds of scratching and scraping and growling as she saw a dark figure in the room trying to fight off another figure that was flying about its head, clawing at it with its talons.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia ran to the wall to turn on the lights.</p><p> </p><p>Black Hat was swinging his clawed hands at Grim, who was flapping his wings and cawing and scratching at Black Hat’s face and hat.</p><p> </p><p>“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!” Artemisia yelled, still sleepy and confused.</p><p>Grim flew out of reach of Black Hat for a moment. “Good morning, Artemisia,” He said with a birdly smile.</p><p> </p><p>“God damn BIRD” Black Hat shouted, and knocked grim out of the air with a cane. Grim fell to the floor. He rustled his feathers, and went back to flapping and cawing at the evil man.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia stood back against the wall and took in the action, not sure of what to do.</p><p>Her father had just tried to kill her in her sleep before something in a dream woke her up, allowing her to defend herself before Grim took up the fight for her.</p><p> </p><p>The two continued to grapple, when Artemisia’s mind finally fully woke up.</p><p> </p><p>She felt wet stuff on her face. She wiped it off with her hand, and looked at the strange, thick black fluid in her palm and under her nails.</p><p>She looked back towards the fight, and saw a gash in Black Hat’s cheek.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>STOP FIGHTING</b>!” she yelled, and everything in the room momentarily levitated off the floor before settling down again.</p><p>The fighting pair stopped and looked at her.</p><p> </p><p>She sighed and rubbed her eyelids.</p><p>“It’s, like, three in the morning, man. I’m tired. I had a long, stressful, confusing and emotionally draining day yesterday, and as soon as I finally get to sleep you come along and try to murder me?!” She said, exasperated.</p><p> </p><p>Grim settled back up onto the canopy. His one eye glared at Black Hat. Black Hat glared back.</p><p> </p><p>“Can we just settle the issue of the whole ‘I’m your unwanted heir from your wife you thought was dead and really is now dead and has left me in your care even though you want to kill me because I pose a threat to usurp your evil empire or something’ thing in the morning?”</p><p> </p><p>Black Hat grimaced and adjusted his coat and tie.</p><p>“Oh, we’ll deal with it,” He said, in his low, raspy villainous voice. “And you shouldn’t act so insolent, girl. You might think you are my equal, but know that assumption has sealed the deaths of millions before you.”</p><p> </p><p>He turned to the door to leave. As he was about to close it, he paused.</p><p>“And I don’t think your mother would like you taking that tone of voice with your <b><em>father</em></b>,” he grinned. He took one last glare at the raven, then shut the door behind him and was gone.</p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>Artemisia jumped back onto the bed and stuffed her face into the pillow. Grim landed next to her.</p><p>“Artemisia…?”</p><p>“Why did he have to say it like that?!” She looked at him, her eyes red and cheeks glistening with tears.</p><p>“<b><em>Father</em></b>.” She shuddered, and sobbed.</p><p> </p><p>Grim thought for a moment. He opened his beak to offer advice.</p><p> </p><p>“<em>Don’t</em>” Artemisia interrupted him through her sobs.</p><p>“I know you think I need advice right now, but…” Artemisia scrunched up in her sheets.</p><p>“I just. *Sob* I want to be alone right now.”</p><p> </p><p>Grim sat for a minute, looking at the sobbing mess of hair before him. He flew to the windowsill. He perched on it, taking one last look at Artemisia, and then flew back into the night.</p><p> </p><p>Artemisia wept, her cries becoming louder.</p><p>She missed her mom. She had almost been killed twice in the last twenty four hours. She was so far from home, and her dad, her <b><em>father</em></b>… </p><p>The way he had said it sounded different than before. It still dripped with malice and contempt, but this time… this time it was like he enjoyed it. Enjoyed it in all the worst ways. And to mention her mother…</p><p> </p><p>He was taunting her. Artemisia knew that. She knew that she should be strong and stable, not letting any of his words or actions get to her.</p><p>Just like her mother had told her to do.</p><p>But she didn’t think she could be that strong.</p><p>
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</p><p>The girl is strong, Black Hat thought, as he stomped down the hallway, the grin off of his face.</p><p>He wiped his face with his gloved hand. He felt the gash she had left with her claws. He drew it away and looked at it.</p><p>Blood.</p><p>When was the last time someone had made him bleed?</p><p>And her physical strength. She had managed to hold him off from slitting her throat ear to ear with one hand. Not even Demencia could do that.</p><p>And now he knew she had that, that… disgrace with her. The “raven” she called “Grim.” He bet she didn’t even know what he really was.</p><p>Black Hat hated to admit that he may also pose a challenge. Nothing he couldn’t pummel into the earth’s core, of course, but still a challenge.</p><p> </p><p>Black Hat’s mind took a different direction.</p><p><em>Challenge</em>.</p><p>His grin reappeared. If he played this right, and oh, he always played everything right, he might just be able to… what was it the kids call it these days?</p><p>Ah, yes.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Have some fun.</em>
</p><p>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry I took so long to post this, and sorry it’s not that great or as long as the others.<br/>The next one might be kind of the same, but hopefully longer.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! This is my first fic here, and I think I’m pretty proud of it. Any helpful criticism is most welcome!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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